


From This Side of the Bed

by jennifer (pandorablu)



Category: Uncharted series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 21:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandorablu/pseuds/jennifer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a bed in Tibet that holds a lot of secrets and worries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From This Side of the Bed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trysts](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=trysts).



His chest was going up and down. Up, down, up, down… Elena didn't concentrate on much else.

"Stupid Nate. I hate you sometimes." Elena muttered to herself, gripping his hand as she continued to watch his chest rise and fall.

Tensin and Schafer had assured Elena that Nate would be fine… but it didn't take a genius to see the look that passed between the two of them on that first night that Tensin had brought Nate into town. The bastard was lucky to be alive.

Tensin had wrapped Nate's chest and shoulder in gauze, applying the salve that he assured her would help his injuries to heal. And wrapped up tightly in blankets and furs, the slight case of hypothermia that he had caught while running around the damn Tibetan mountains in just his long shirt and jeans seemed to be going away too; instead of his whole body going into unconscious convulsions every few minutes there were only a few full body shivers every few hours, his body slowly regaining color.

Elena had been worried sick when Nate had jumped onto that train what seemed like years ago now. Drake had an uncanny ability to be okay the crazier the situation got, but that still didn't mean Elena didn't worry about him from time to time. Because if every time she was around him was any indication, he should be dead ten times over.

She hoped Chloe was worth it. Worth him almost dying. But Drake liked to chase after girls with a pretty smile and ones that didn't back down from a challenge, it was how she had first gotten Nate's attention after all, and it was obvious from knowing Chloe all of a few hours that the two of them were similar… except Elena knew that Nate would only get his heart broken with Chloe.

Call her stupid, but she still loved Nate a little bit. Okay, maybe not a little bit, maybe it was a lot, but since Nate was the only one in the room, and he was lying unconscious on the bed, it wasn't like anyone else would know.

And she hated Chloe. Chloe, who was working with Lazarevic, that asshole, and Harry Flynn, who Elena would love to know how Nate knew, helping them when the only thing they wanted to do was destroy the world. Would destroy the world if they found that Shambala place. She didn't… no couldn't… understand how someone would work with slimeballs like that. How Nate could possibly be in love with someone who would work with slimeballs like that and risk his life for them.

Elena gripped Nate's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Don't die on me you idiot. What the hell would I say to Sully? He would kick your ass himself if he was here, tell you to wake up… so don't make me have to tell him, alright? I… I can't do it." She whispered, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Just be alright."

*~*~*

Her chest was going up and down… and Nate focused on that. It meant she was still alive, still breathing. Breathing was better than not. And since Elena wasn't even doing that an hour ago… Nate bit his lip, not wanting to go down that road.

He knew that he was a danger junkie, an adrenaline junkie. You'd have to be to be a relics hunter. Because nothing worth grabbing was anything easy.

Didn't mean he wanted Elena wrapped up in any of this. But the stupid woman found her own way into trouble. First it was Borneo, and now Lazarevic… he was going to have to have a talk with his girlfriend if she wanted to chase after all these crazy people with just a cameraman, or at worst, alone with only a gun to protect her. Nate was supposed to be the idiot, not her. Never her.

If Harry hadn't blown himself up… he would be dead already. Nate just wished he could do it himself, instead of Harry getting off easy and blowing himself up with that damned grenade. Bastard.

And yeah, Elena was his girlfriend. If she wanted to be when she woke up. Chloe was fun… but Nate now knew he could never trust her. And he liked thinking he could trust people… his girlfriend. Call it a character flaw.

Chloe had left a few hours ago… saying something about not wanting to be a fourth wheel and invading the party anymore than she already had. She'd promised she'd keep in touch before she left, but Nate knew that was only words… platitudes when she really had nothing else to say about how damaged everything had become between them.

"You okay kid?" Sully asked him from the doorway. The older man had greeted them when Nate and Chloe had gotten back to the village, carrying an unconscious Elena between them. Elena had called the older man when they had finally found Nate in the mountains, but it had taken him a while to get to the village.

Nate gripped Elena's hand, giving it a kiss. "Yeah. I'm good."

"You know you suck at lying right?" Nate could tell just from the tone in Sully's voice that he had a smirk on his face.

"Shut up. You have so many tells I could wipe the floor with you at poker and you'd have nothing left but your underwear." Nate joked, his heart not really in it.

"Which is why I never play poker with you." Sully said as he pulled over the other chair in the room and put it next to Nate's side. "Tensin said she'd be fine."

"I really need to learn Tibetan one of these days." Nate sighed.

"I'll get you one of those 'Tibetan for Dummies' books when we get back to the states." Sully gripped his shoulder. "You gonna get any rest? You've been on your feet for over 24 hours now, and that was after almost getting killed yourself on that moronic train ride of yours." He said softly, eyeing Nate's hands that still had Elena's in a death grip.

Nate rolled his eyes. "Will anyone ever get over that?"

"Not likely my friend. What mode of transportation have you taken that hasn't ended up with you almost dying?"

Nate raised his eyebrow. "Airplane?"

"Do you forget what happened in Fiji?" Sully bantered back.

"Oh yeah. The plane dropped what, 20,000 feet?" Nate smiled.

"Try almost 30,000 ya idiot. The water was nice and blue… and very very close." Sully smiled back. "I'll sit with her if you want me to." He said quietly.

Nate could feel the exhaustion from the past few days creeping into his bones, making Sully's invitation sound like a very good idea. "No… I want to sit with her a little longer."

Sully gripped his shoulder one more time before getting out of the chair. "Elena's a tough girl. She'll be fine."

"Yeah."

"Besides, if you fall flat on your face again while she's out of it, she's just going to beat you up when she wakes up. You know that right?" Sully said, hand on the doorway.

"Yeah." Nate repeated as Sully slipped out. "You hear that? You need to wake up so you can keep my butt in line, cause not even Sully can." He smiled.

Nate kissed Elena's hand one more time. "Besides, there's two beach chairs in Fiji with our names on them, and no megalomaniacal dictators in sight. I promise."

Nate would leave out the part about the airplane.


End file.
